OFFF founder Héctor Ayuso calls for a creative revolution

Computer Arts' Julia Sagar speaks to the organisers of Barcelona's biggest design fiesta as they launch The Poool website.

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The team behind Barcelona's annual three-day creative fiesta, OFFF, have taken time out of frantically putting the final touches onto the second issue of The Poool magazine to launch a new website for the project today.

It's the final straight now for the OFFF 2014 organisers: in a month's time, on 15 May, they'll be opening the doors of the spacious Disseny Hub Barcelona building and welcoming excited attendees for three days of inspiring talks from a rich and varied speaker lineup.

OFFF 2014

Seb Lester, Chip Kidd, Craig & Karl, Erik Spiekermann, Hvass & Hannibal, Kate Moross, and ManvsMachine are just some of the world-class creatives who will be taking to OFFF's two stages amid workshops, exhibitions, parties and the partaking of more than a few cerezas.

Computer Arts will be there, reporting from Barcelona - and if you haven't got your ticket for OFFF 2014, there's still time.

In the meantime, I caught up with The Poool editor and OFFF founder Héctor Ayuso to find out more about the second-ever issue of the event's magazine...

Oliver Jeffers' contribution to The Poool

Tell us about The Poool - what's the idea behind it and how does it relate to OFFF Barcelona?

We wanted to go beyond the idea of being a magazine to being something treasurable that people could actually use, and that will always be there for them when they need a getaway. The interviews are different; the features are completely exclusive. OFFF attendees are given the chance to get their hands on the magazine for free as I believe everyone should have access to the talents we have out there.

Can you give us any exclusive insights into what to expect inside the second issue?

We have exclusive work especially done for The Poool by Conrad Roset, Pomme Chan, Bartholot, Sean Lotman… We have interviews with Casey Neistat with his brilliant 'five rules of doing', we dug deeper into Oliver Jeffer's world and we are also revealing the magic behind Patrick Clair's work. We'll keep the rest as a surprise!

How has the magazine changed this year?

The concept of The Poool has always been based on innovation, which means that every year the magazine will have a new format, new concepts, a new touch and so on. What the attendees can expect this year is a whole, new, different magazine focusing more on the content.

A shot from The Poool's video, by Flaminguettes

Why do you like 'pursuing the unexpected' and how does this approach inform the magazine?

It's natural for us, as human beings, to always look for something new and different - something unexpected that would make a change somehow! And we use that in our process: we don't have any pre-plans on who or on what we should feature inside The Poool every year. And that especially shows when we give the artists the total freedom to create something for the magazine.

You say that The Poool is a revolution. What are you revolting against and why should we join you?

The Poool is a revolution against dullness. It's a shout out and a wake-up call to anyone looking for a way out from anything that could drain their thoughts and imagination. Whether you are in this situation or not, The Poool will be there waiting for you to pick it up whenever you need it.

The website launched today – what can visitors expect from it?

The contents on the website will be completely different from the actual magazine. What we want to do with the website is communicate with people through our posts and share any kind of inspiration from new projects by different artists, talks and videos done by us, words, music... It will be their morning, evening and their time out to explore!

Bartholot for The Poool

Who's in charge of putting The Poool together?

The Poool is a team of everyone we see, hear and feel! The core team is represented by myself as the editor, Nathalie Koutia as the deputy editor, creative director Aimée Campos and Natalie Melville as the art director, with the students from Atelier as the design team. It's also a collaboration with the awesome artists involved with us in each issue.

What's the biggest lesson you've learned from putting together The Poool?

No matter how soon you start or how much you prepare, even if it's an annual project, you will always be doing changes at the last minute. Those last-minute plans always turn out the best ones!